Paige
eighteen
Hayes is working out in his home gym on the first floor while I shower and wait for the makeup artist to get to the house. I’m just pulling on leggings and a loose tank when I hear the doorbell ring.
“She must be early,” I say to Cerberus as he perks up at the sound and goes on the alert.
“Let’s go meet the woman who will take this,” I say, motioning to my bare face and wet hair, “and turn it into something your daddy calls a smoke show.”
He trots at my side as we go downstairs. I pull open the heavy door with a smile ready to meet the artist Angela spoke so highly of. My smile falters and my heart stutters to a stop before resuming a breakneck pace when I get a look at the person standing on the stoop.
“Garrison?” I shriek. Cerberus growls low and nudges past me to stand between us. “What on God’s green earth are you doing here?”
Garrison eyes the huge, menacing dog warily and takes a step back. Smart.
“I’ve come to take you home, sugar,” he says, the hint of fear trembling through his prepared bravado.
“You’re a few bricks shy of a load if you think I’m going anywhere with you. What are you even doing here? How are you here?” How could he have tracked me down to Hayes’s house?
“Your mama sent me to look for you. She’s worried sick and you need to be home in Savannah where we can start that beautiful relationship of ours that’s going to be the perfect blending of Southern breeding and smart business.”
“Crazy, the lot of ’em,” I say to Cerberus, the muscular dog posturing and still growling low in front of me. “Garrison, I will not be going anywhere with you, and I most definitely will not be marrying your sorry excuse for a behind.”
“You’ll love it in time, trust me.” His self-satisfied grin turns my stomach and I gag.
“I just threw up a little in my mouth when you said that.”
He’s undeterred by my rude remark.
“Paige, I’ve wanted you for years. It’s meant to be and our families are all on board. We just need you to see the writing on the wall and come on home where you belong. It’s what’s best for everyone.”
I roll my eyes. I’m dang tired of other people deciding what’s best for me without so much as consulting me about it.
“I don’t care how much money your mama and daddy paid to keep your bad behavior quiet. I’m not a business deal and I won’t be a pawn in this farce.”
My voice trembles in rage and Cerberus takes a taut step closer to the unwanted visitor in front of us, his posture stiff and his shoulders bunched, ready to attack if I so much as breathe the word. Garrison doesn’t respond to my comment on his family paying off Mama.
“Not that simple, sugar. The deal is as good as done whether you accept it or not, so you might as well relax and enjoy the ride. I might even make it pleasurable for you if you’re good.”
I don’t know what kind of stupid he’s made of, but he tries to reach for me right over Cerberus’s head. The dog snarls, his ferocious bark loud and evil. His jaws snap at the hand before it can graze my skin and Garrison yanks it back.
“Cerberus, you’re a very good boy,” I say quietly.
The dog stops snarling but doesn’t look away from the potential threat in front of us. I look up.
“What kinds of commands do you think he knows? I haven’t tried them all out yet, but he’s a smart boy and he doesn’t like you any more than I do. You better start walking back to that car out there if you want to keep both of your hands.”
“I’m not leaving without you,” he says, anger and fear creating an irrational and scary gleam in his brown eyes.
“Everything okay, Paige?”
I turn at the sound of my name and give Hayes a grimace before it turns to appreciation. He’s shirtless and toweling sweat off his chest as he walks down the hallway. His perfection isn’t even marred by the bandage on his shoulder. He just looks more beautiful, and incredibly dangerous.
“I’ve got a visitor from Savannah set on seeing me home, thanks to my crazy mama’s scheming.”
He stops beside me and opens the door wider, taking in Garrison’s frozen form in front of a growling, slavering Cerberus, who takes a step closer to Garrison, edging him off the porch and onto the top step of the stairs.
“You’re on private property, boy.” His words snap with authority. “That dog doesn’t seem to want you here anymore than we do. I suggest you see yourself off it if you know what’s good for you.”
“I’m taking my girl with me if I’m going anywhere,” Garrison challenges, his chest puffing to extend like the paunch that hangs over his belt.
I scoff and take a step back, aligning with Hayes in the doorway. Garrison is cuckoo crazy if he thinks that’s going to fly.
Hayes shakes his head slowly. “She’s not now, nor has she ever been, your girl.
” His voice is deadly quiet and lower than normal, reverberating with dangerous intent.
“I should gut you just for showing up here after what you did to her all those years ago. It might actually teach you a lesson you’ve taken too long to learn. ”
“You can’t touch me,” Garrison throws back, but his tone is much less convincing.
My eyes widen for Garrison, because this is not a side of Hayes he should be making angrier than he already is.
I have seen Hayes in action now. I know what he’s capable of when threatened, and I highly doubt Garrison is ready for the punishment that would be doled out if he tried to touch me right now.
Hayes might spring on him if he so much as looks at me wrong, for all I know.
“There’s a lot I can do and you’d still deserve worse. Leave, now.”
Garrison’s lip hitches up in his own snarl. “You’re just a bump in the road to our future together. She’s got a duty to her family and a role to play, just like I do. She’ll see it soon enough, if not today.”
Hayes steps forward, his anger palpable. “You’ve got some fucking nerve. I have enough dirt to put you away for years. The other inmates will treat you just like you’ve treated the girls who were paid off to stay quiet about your proclivities for date rape.”
Garrison’s face pales and he shifts nervously from one foot to the other. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he denies.
So much for being a lawyer. He isn’t convincing me of anything other than his own guilt. Still, my head swings to Hayes, wondering if it’s true. I wasn’t the only one? I look back at Garrison, really appraising him now.
“Go home while you still can, Garrison. Tell my mama I won’t be a part of this sham and she can write me out of her will for all I care.”
Hayes and Garrison break their staring contest to turn to me as I prop my hand on my hip.
“I’d rather be penniless and working a normal nine-to-five than accept any part of this godawful archaic clause to secure my own legacy.”
“You’re going to regret that, Paige,” Garrison says, dropping his attempt at wooing me with more smarmy Southern charm.
“Say goodbye to everything you’ve ever known or wanted, because there’s no way in hell your mama and daddy will let this slide.
You’ll never so much as step foot in The Mansion again for how you’re breaking your mama’s heart. ”
“Don’t say another fucking word to her or I’ll rip your tongue out of your head and shove it up your ass.”
Hayes takes a step closer to Garrison on the porch, Cerberus right at his side, and I’m not sure which is more intimidating at the moment.
I follow a step behind, a little scared that Hayes may really take the opportunity Garrison presents to fight.
True, Garrison would deserve every punch Hayes lands, but I don’t think it’s the right move unless Garrison does something incredibly stupid.
Given he showed up here today, it’s not unlikely.
“Oh, good, right on time,” Hayes says, looking over Garrison’s head as a police cruiser comes into view around a bend and rolls down the long driveway to the house. Cerberus snaps his jaws again and forces Garrison down, step by step, until he’s standing on the driveway.
“You called the police?” I ask Hayes mildly. I don’t mind the thought of Garrison being carted off in a police car in the least. In fact, I relish the idea and would very much like to see that happen. It would be about freaking time.
“My security system alerts me to anyone who drives through the gates when they’re open like we have it for the makeup artist,” he explains rationally, like we’re not witnessing the Atlanta Police Department roll up with Garrison in their sights.
Garrison turns nervously to watch the police car park next to the Lexus he must have driven here.
“I didn’t like the looks of a strange man walking up to the door when we were expecting a woman. I called preemptively, and I’m glad I did, because I was this close to having to bury the fucker out in the back forty.”
I smile. “I like the way you think,” I tell him, rising on my tiptoes to place a grateful kiss on his cheek. He catches me around the waist and keeps me close.
The police officers get out of the car and approach with their hands resting ominously on their gun belts. I highly doubt Garrison would do anything to warrant them drawing a weapon on him, but their seriousness in dealing with trespassers wins my approval.
“Garrison,” I say to drag his attention back to the door instead of on the police. “You’re done. If what Hayes says is true, and I believe it, everyone in Georgia is gonna know what a pig you are. Even my mama and daddy will have to admit they pinned their hopes on the wrong man.”
His eyes grow big with what I hope is a newfound respect for me after assuming I was just going to be a wilting pushover forever. Or maybe it’s just plain old fear. It feels good to threaten him with what I only hope makes him feel as helpless as I have been at his hands.
I look over at Hayes and sigh. Not only is he pretty, but he’s defended me two days in a row.
Watching Garrison get escorted by the police to his vehicle and run out of Atlanta is a sight I will treasure for the rest of my life.